SAVE THE TREES - IT'S COOLER IN THEIR SHADE

The summer heat is unbearable and you can’t stand to be in the sun. You love the cool of the shade under a tree with a dense canopy of green leaves. And yet our Council has been chopping down mature shade trees on roadsides and in parks.

It’s not just the culturally important scar tree in Dovedale that was so important to local Aboriginal People.

Remember the blue quandong which used to shade the corner of Victoria and Prince Streets next to the Council building? It was removed and replaced with a low-set garden that provides no shade at all to pedestrians. In the absence of any shade, that section of footpath is now unpleasantly glary and hot – a sharp contrast to the opposite corner with the big old white fig. 

Plants under heat stress where the Blue Quandong used to be

Elsewhere along Prince St, trees have been removed with the excuse of improving drivers’ ability to see pedestrians about to cross the road, but without considering the amenity of the main street. And ignoring the fact that most of the trees that were removed didn’t actually block drivers’ sightlines of pedestrians. 

Bare garden area in Prince Street where shady lillypillies used to grow.

Beyond the older streets in our towns, newer subdivisions are going in without any street trees. Extensive areas of established suburbs such as Westlawn, Townsend and South Grafton Hill also lack any substantial trees.

Street trees are a vital part of cool-scaping our towns, to remove the urban heat-island effect. This effect is due to the concrete, bitumen and other built surfaces re-radiating the sun’s heat, and has been quantified in Sydney, where morning summer surface temperatures in treeless urban areas are on average 12.8°C higher than treed non-urban areas. But we’d need more than a few jacarandas: it would take a 14% tree cover to completely offset thermal loading of urban materials.

Trees and outdoor infrastructure (such as shelters, public swimming pools, community gardens) all contribute to reduce the heat. They should be priorities for Council’s investment, not chainsaws and demolition crews.

Without them, people are being driven to air-conditioned indoor spaces and household energy bills soar.

            - Janet Cavanaugh

 This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on February 4, 2019. 

EARTH MATTERS: Grafton Street Tree Heritage - Uniformity and Diversity

Tree Waratah     Photo: Jeff Thomas

Monday March 19

In the first Earth Matters session of the year Jeff Thomas will discuss Grafton trees.  While Grafton is well known for its Jacarandas, there is a lot more to the treescape in the city. From the odd remnant of the original rainforest, early plantings for shade and beautification, a long relationship with the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and changing ideas of diversity and avenue plantings Grafton has a rich street heritage which few other towns can rival. 

Jeff Thomas is a NPWS former ranger and currently pest officer. With scientific and horticultural qualifications, he has been interested in the many fine examples of trees in the urban landscape of Grafton, many of which are rarely seen elsewhere

The session will be held in the Staffroom at Grafton Primary School, Queen Street, Grafton from 5.30 – 7 p.m. on Monday March 19.

There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion.  Refreshments will follow.

For further information, contact Stan on 66449309.

Earth Matters is a session on the environment which is conducted every two months by the Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition ( clarencevcc@gmail.com ).

Golden Penda, Market Square    Photo: Jeff Thomas